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Senator Mitt Romney?

The longest-serving Republican senator in American history is finally ready to call it quits.

Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch announced on Tuesday that he will not run for re-election in 2018 and will leave the Senate at the end of his current term, after 42 years in his seat.
================================================== ==========================="When the president visited Utah last month, he said I was a fighter. I've always been a fighter. I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington," Hatch said in a video statement. "But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching."

An announcement from Senator Orrin G. Hatch. #utpol pic.twitter.com/UeItaLjR3j
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) January 2, 2018
================================================== =============================
Hatch, 83, is the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. He worked with the Trump administration on the major tax bill that passed just before Christmas. It was an ambitious legislative goal that will cap off his historic Senate career.

President Trump had urged Hatch not to retire. On a trip to Utah in December, Trump called him a "true fighter" and said he hoped Hatch would stay in the Senate "for a very long time to come."

Some in Utah disagree; in a recent editorial the Salt Lake Tribune said Hatch has shown "an utter lack of integrity" and called on him to retire. The paper criticized his role in dismantling national monuments and crafting the tax bill, which were both major priorities of the White House.

Hatch's retirement kicks off an open race for a reliably Republican Senate seat, and one worry for Trump is that one of his biggest GOP critics could replace the Utah senator: Mitt Romney, whose name has been at the top of the list for the GOP nomination for months.

When asked if the president would commit to campaigning for the eventual GOP nominee, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, "I don't think we've made a determination in terms of campaigning, but the president certainly has the greatest and deepest amount of respect for Sen. Hatch and his over four decades of experience in the Senate."

Romney himself congratulated Hatch on his retirement in a post on Facebook.

The failed 2012 GOP presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor has deep familial and political ties in Utah owing to his Mormon faith and his successful management of the once-troubled 2002 Winter Olympics. His family maintains a residence in the state, and Romney hosts an annual political gathering in Utah popular with the GOP establishment.

At a time when voters have rallied around outsiders, Romney is a consummate insider. While he would clearly be favored by the national party and top donors for the nomination, he could face a primary fight from the activist right.

He blasted Trump during the 2016 campaign, delivering a speech calling him "a phony, a fraud." Romney went on to say, "He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat."

Yet Romney's criticism of Trump may not be as politically damaging in Utah, where the president has struggled to gain a foothold with the state's socially conservative voters.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, handily won Utah in the 2016 presidential caucus — Trump came in third after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. — and Trump won the 2016 general election with just 45 percent of the vote. In contrast, Romney carried Utah with nearly 73 percent of the vote in the 2012 presidential election.

Romney's relationship with Trump thawed briefly when Romney was under consideration to be secretary of state, but he has continued publicly criticizing the president since he took office.

After the violence around a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last summer when the president said there were good people "on both sides," Romney wrote a lengthy Facebook post in which he said, "Whether he intended to or not, what he communicated caused racists to rejoice, minorities to weep, and the vast heart of America to mourn."

Romney is likely to have Hatch's support. In March, the senator hinted that he might opt to retire if Romney would run to replace him. Hatch told National Journal that Romney would be "perfect" for the Senate. An unusual factor could be Romney's age, 70. However, many senators serve well into their 80s, and Romney's popularity would most likely overcome any concerns. He ran for Senate from Massachusetts in 1994 but lost to veteran Democrat Edward Kennedy.

"I've expressed it to him. I can see why he might not want to do it, but I can also see why if he did it, it would be a great thing for America," Hatch said then.

While Romney would enter the Senate at the bottom rung of seniority if he won, his national profile and personal popularity could elevate him almost immediately into a position of influence in the clubby Senate. The closest analogy would be former Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won a New York Senate seat in 2000 after eight years as first lady.

If Romney won, he would also enter at a time when major moderate GOP voices critical of Trump, like Tennessee's Bob Corker and Arizona's Jeff Flake, are leaving. Both have announced they, too, will retire at the end of 2018 instead of running again.

As the longest-serving senator in the majority, Hatch serves as president pro tempore, which puts him third in the line of succession to the presidency after Vice President Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

If Senate Republicans hold their majority, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran is poised to serve as president pro tempore in the next Congress.

Correction Jan. 2, 2018

A previous version of this story said that if Mitt Romney ran for Senate from Utah, it would be his first run for Congress. Romney ran for Senate in 1994, losing to Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy. Additionally, Orrin Hatch and Thad Cohcran were incorrectly referred to as Senate pro tempore. The correct term is president pro tempore.

"whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"

So the former governor of massive two shits and the son of a former governor of Michigan is planning on rolling up his carpet bag and waltzing into Utah to claim his baronial senate seat in Utah by divine right of being an elite and a so call Mormon golden boy. Let's see what Utah has to say about that. Talk about delusional arrogance. Worse to think I voted for that asshat against Obama. I should have stayed home.

Official TB2K Comedy Relief ; I resemble that remark! ; Aloha Snackbar; Nuke a Gay Whale For Christ and other Political Incorrectness
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. FRA

The wonder of our time isnít how angry we are at politics and politicians; itís how little weíve done about it. - Fran Porretto
-http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-wholly-rational-hatred.html

So the former governor of massive two shits and the son of a former governor of Michigan is planning on rolling up his carpet bag and waltzing into Utah to claim his baronial senate seat in Utah by divine right of being an elite and a so call Mormon golden boy. Let's see what Utah has to say about that. Talk about delusional arrogance. Worse to think I voted for that asshat against Obama. I should have stayed home.

The more I see this sort of thing, the more I'm reminded of Roman (Republic and Imperial) history....

So the former governor of massive two shits and the son of a former governor of Michigan is planning on rolling up his carpet bag and waltzing into Utah to claim his baronial senate seat in Utah by divine right of being an elite and a so call Mormon golden boy. Let's see what Utah has to say about that. Talk about delusional arrogance. Worse to think I voted for that asshat against Obama. I should have stayed home.

RomneyCare
Backstabbed Trump
Romney Quit campaign against Obama in the final stretch when he (Romney)was winning assuring that Obama would win

Trump won 2626 counties
Hillary won 487 counties
In 2018, all 435 U.S. House Members and 34 U.S. Senators are up for reelection.

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.

"Why not stay awake now? Who wants to sleep now with so much happening, so much to see? Life used to be dull you see...and you don't have to sleep alone, you don't even have to sleep at all; and so, all you have to do is show the stick to the dog now and then and say, 'Thank God for nothing.'"

Good Grief! More Mittens .... Wish he would go away lie McCain. I also voted for him when he ran against Obama. But how he attacked Trump, I will never forget. I cannot and will not ever again support Mittens. But am up herein Wyoming so it will be out of my hands, with up to people from Utah to decide. He will probably win down in Utah.

From an Old Sign Up the South Fork of the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming ...

Romney will win the Utah Senate seat easily. He got 90% of the Republicrat primary vote in one or more heavily LDS southeastern Idaho counties in 2008. His father was high up in the Mormon church leadership as I recollect. Mitt is without principles IMHO.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." -- Thomas Jefferson

Mitt Romney on Tuesday changed his Twitter location from Massachusetts to “Holladay, UT,” just hours after Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced he would not seek re-election. The move fuels speculation that Romney will mount a bid later this year to replace Hatch in the Senate, which would put a prominent Republican critic of President Trump in Congress. A source close to Romney told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that he will likely delay a formal announcement out of deference to Hatch.

Official TB2K Comedy Relief ; I resemble that remark! ; Aloha Snackbar; Nuke a Gay Whale For Christ and other Political Incorrectness
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. FRA

If they do elect Mittens, it will certainly not make me feel more favorable toward Mormons in general. Why, I might even stop offering icewater to the missionaries when they come around.

We need to be rid of GOPers, not adding more of them.

The wonder of our time isnít how angry we are at politics and politicians; itís how little weíve done about it. - Fran Porretto
-http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-wholly-rational-hatred.html

With Sen. John McCain in the twilight of his career, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee sees a coming void in the Trump era.

Jan. 5, 2018

s he's expressed his desire to join the U.S. Senate, Mitt Romney has privately revealed that a driving purpose of his service would be to emulate a former rival and fellow foiled Republican presidential nominee: Sen. John McCain.

"There's got to be somebody who can stand up to the president," Romney told members of the Utah congressional delegation in recent weeks, according to a person with knowledge of his comments. "Who's going to stand up to Trump?"

In contemplating his own question, Romney's referenced that McCain has filled the role of principled objector to the Trump presidency, opposing his travel ban, sinking his health care repeal with an emphatic thumbs-down vote, blasting his "half-baked, spurious nationalism," and repudiating his coziness with Vladimir Putin. Romney may not share all of McCain's precise positions, but he admires the Arizona Republican's fearlessness during an especially turbulent chapter in U.S. politics.

"I've been told that Romney has said he wants to be a McCain-like figure in the Senate," says Dave Owen, a longtime Utah Republican strategist who doesn't count himself a Romney supporter.

With the 81-year-old McCain battling brain cancer and likely serving his final term, Romney sees a coming void for an elder statesman in Washington who can take on Trump with unfettered earnestness and without significant political consequence. Carrying overwhelming popularity in a place where he still basks in "favorite son" status for rescuing the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Romney has tremendous capital to spend in Utah.

And at 70 years old, serving in the Senate would be the capstone to his political career.

"He has the ability to act in a statesmanlike role because he has national experience and governance experience," says Bruce Hough, a former Republican National Committeeman from Utah. "There's not a lot for him to gain politically. He would be a two-term senator, based on his age."

With the risk of repercussions so low, Romney's made clear to close friends and supporters he wants to run for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, ostensibly freezing in place the next generation of Beehive State politicians.

Yet given his past tortured relationship with hard-line conservatives, his purported intentions haven't come without disappointment and detractors.

Third-term Rep. Chris Stewart, 57, was seriously interested in pursuing Hatch's seat until Romney made his desires clear, leaving Stewart disgruntled. "Chris Stewart would like to run. He'd be great. But he knows better," says a GOP operative in contact with Stewart's team.

Stewart's spokesman would not confirm a private conversation between the congressman and Romney, but says Stewart "is going to take some time to discuss the race with his family before making an official decision."

To many Utah Republicans, though, Romney opponents are wasting their time.

"Romney's going to get in – and if he does, he'll win," says Dan Liljenquist, a former Republican state senator who challenged Hatch for his seat in 2012. "He's thoughtful, he's trustworthy. He'd have instant credibility."

"Romney's just an 800-freaking-pound gorilla here," Owen says.

Adds Hough: "He's inevitable if he decides to run. He would overpower anybody."

But while Romney has clandestinely mulled the McCain model, it is not expected to be part of his likely campaign, which he's expected to launch in the coming weeks. Sensitive to the national attention that will swarm his candidacy, the former governor is poised to keep laser-focused on Utah's needs, dutifully traversing the state and showcasing successful local policies that that could be applied to Washington, according to a person who has discussed a potential Senate bid with him. More practically, Romney has no interest in igniting a Twitter war with Trump before he even arrives in Washington.

Having dealt with Trump privately during discussions about becoming his secretary of state – as well as tussled with him in the public sphere, memorably labeling Trump "a phony" and "a fraud" during the 2016 campaign – Romney believes he can work in good faith with the president by simply adhering to the art of the deal.

"President Trump is 100 percent transactional. He's not relational in any way, shape or form. It's about the transaction. Mitt understands that," says Boyd Matheson, a former chief of staff to Lee who contemplated a Senate bid of his own and met with Romney in November. "Everyone who's predicting this big battle between the opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are going to be disappointed. Mitt will make deals and the president will make deals. They'll disagree and fire at each other on some things, but Mitt will still work with him."

Jenny Wilson, who is attempting to become the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in Utah since 1970, may try to make Romney's national stardom a liability by arguing it'll be a distraction from local needs.

"I know that he's felt that with John McCain's leaving the Senate and [Sen.] Jeff Flake [retiring], that the party needs to fill the gap in some way," Wilson says. "It's clear he's not in the Trump camp and Trump had worked very hard to keep Hatch in. So I think that ends up being his lens and his motivation. I think there's clearly a difference in terms of my deep roots in the state."

The 52-year-old Wilson also notes that due to his age, Romney won't ever be able to accumulate the seniority that Hatch earned, a sentiment echoed among those younger Republicans who would have gunned for the seat if not for Romney. "Hatch was so often saying seniority matters in the state of Utah. Mitt is at the end of his career, not at the midpoint," she notes.

If Romney indeed runs and is successful, he'd enter the Senate just about a year from now, following potentially ruinous midterm elections for Republicans that could toss them out of power and would force deep soul-searching about how to handle Trump's re-election while protecting the broader party.

It would be a mission aptly suited for Mitt.

"There's exactly two people who could walk into the GOP conference meeting and challenge Mitch McConnell to be leader and win," Matheson asserts. "Mitt Romney or Marco Rubio. If Mitt did, he'd win."

Such a coup would be unprecedented for a freshman, and Matheson says Romney didn't address it when he suggested such a radical scenario during their meeting.

"Imagine Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan having a bigger influence on one end of Pennsylvania Avenue than they would have on the other end of Pennsylvania Ave. Imagine a Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan Congress," Matheson says. "That is a face of the Republican Party that's very interesting."https://www.usnews.com/news/the-run/...ely-senate-run

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